What do you remember about your elementary and middle school experiences? What did you learn that has had a lasting influence? Who were your most influential teachers and/or caregivers? Why?
My early schooling has a big effect on who I am today and what I want to do. I remember a lot about my teachers who helped push me to want to be like them. Most of the teachers I had throughout elementary and middle school were very good and I could think of one specific thing that each of them taught me that I value still today. While it was my teachers in elementary school that helped me with basic skills like typing, reading, and holding a pencil, it was my eighth grade math teacher who really got me excited to learn.
Mr. Diedrich taught algebra to the kids that had passed their placement tests in seventh grade that put them into a higher math class. I was placed with a group of about 12 or 15 kids that were really good at math compared to the rest of the grade. We hadn't chosen to be in the advanced class, so we weren't all necessarily excited to be there, but we were all very good students. Mr. Diedrich explained to us that this class would be harder than classes we were used to and that we needed to do very well to place out of algebra in high school. He encouraged us to try the best we could because we needed a 90 to pass the final. He would tell us about kids in his previous classes. I can still remember the numbers of people who passed the final that he told us. In the beginning our drive was just to not end up being like the class that fooled around and only 1 person out of 18 passed. We wanted to be like the classed that all passed so that Mr. Diedrich could brag about us to his next classes.
Once we started actually learning the material, we realized that this math was much different than what we were used to. Incorporating letters into math was a little harder than we had expected. But Mr. Diedrich always had a new way to explain things to us so that we could understand. I never remember struggling in that class because he taught so well. He usually taught right out of the text book, which I really liked, but when we were confused or needed another explanation he always had one for us. He taught us tricks for factoring so that we became pros at it and a song to remember the quadratic formula. He really went above and beyond when it came to our class.
Class went on and Mr. Diedrich always had new ways of getting us involved. We would do problems on the board as a group and share answers to our homework problems. He always gave us time to start our homework at the end of class, which was time that we really appreciated. He saw each one of our potentials, especially mine. He would always call on me for answers because he knew I had them right most of the time. He encouraged us to correct our homework and fix any mistakes so that we fully understood them. When it came to give grades out after the final, he called me out into the hallway first to tell me I had passed with a 98%. I knew then that all our hard work as a class had really paid off.
As time progressed I became more interested in my algebra class. I really enjoyed learning and his teaching more than any other class. To this day I still claim that algebra is my favorite math class of all time. Mr. Diedrich inspired me to continue taking challenging math courses. As I did, I found out that math was not just something that I was good at, but also something I enjoyed. I didn't realize it right away, but he had significant impact on my future. Mr. Diedrich taught me that it is possible to like math teachers. Now I have decided that I want to be a math teacher so that I can inspire people to enjoy math as much as I did. If it hadn't been for my eighth grade algebra teacher I could have been on an entirely different math track. I may not have realized my passion for math. I want to make the same impact on math students that Mr. Diedrich made on me.
Early Schooling
What do you remember about your elementary and middle school experiences? What did you learn that has had a lasting influence? Who were your most influential teachers and/or caregivers? Why?My early schooling has a big effect on who I am today and what I want to do. I remember a lot about my teachers who helped push me to want to be like them. Most of the teachers I had throughout elementary and middle school were very good and I could think of one specific thing that each of them taught me that I value still today. While it was my teachers in elementary school that helped me with basic skills like typing, reading, and holding a pencil, it was my eighth grade math teacher who really got me excited to learn.
Mr. Diedrich taught algebra to the kids that had passed their placement tests in seventh grade that put them into a higher math class. I was placed with a group of about 12 or 15 kids that were really good at math compared to the rest of the grade. We hadn't chosen to be in the advanced class, so we weren't all necessarily excited to be there, but we were all very good students. Mr. Diedrich explained to us that this class would be harder than classes we were used to and that we needed to do very well to place out of algebra in high school. He encouraged us to try the best we could because we needed a 90 to pass the final. He would tell us about kids in his previous classes. I can still remember the numbers of people who passed the final that he told us. In the beginning our drive was just to not end up being like the class that fooled around and only 1 person out of 18 passed. We wanted to be like the classed that all passed so that Mr. Diedrich could brag about us to his next classes.
Once we started actually learning the material, we realized that this math was much different than what we were used to. Incorporating letters into math was a little harder than we had expected. But Mr. Diedrich always had a new way to explain things to us so that we could understand. I never remember struggling in that class because he taught so well. He usually taught right out of the text book, which I really liked, but when we were confused or needed another explanation he always had one for us. He taught us tricks for factoring so that we became pros at it and a song to remember the quadratic formula. He really went above and beyond when it came to our class.
Class went on and Mr. Diedrich always had new ways of getting us involved. We would do problems on the board as a group and share answers to our homework problems. He always gave us time to start our homework at the end of class, which was time that we really appreciated. He saw each one of our potentials, especially mine. He would always call on me for answers because he knew I had them right most of the time. He encouraged us to correct our homework and fix any mistakes so that we fully understood them. When it came to give grades out after the final, he called me out into the hallway first to tell me I had passed with a 98%. I knew then that all our hard work as a class had really paid off.
As time progressed I became more interested in my algebra class. I really enjoyed learning and his teaching more than any other class. To this day I still claim that algebra is my favorite math class of all time. Mr. Diedrich inspired me to continue taking challenging math courses. As I did, I found out that math was not just something that I was good at, but also something I enjoyed. I didn't realize it right away, but he had significant impact on my future. Mr. Diedrich taught me that it is possible to like math teachers. Now I have decided that I want to be a math teacher so that I can inspire people to enjoy math as much as I did. If it hadn't been for my eighth grade algebra teacher I could have been on an entirely different math track. I may not have realized my passion for math. I want to make the same impact on math students that Mr. Diedrich made on me.